Dream Eater
by DarqueDeath4444
Summary: Sakura merely exists as a devour of dreams. She eats for fuel and lives each day just as she had the day before. Gaara had an abusive father. Even when he is gone, nightmares of raining fists continue to haunt him. As the darkness continues to try and welcome him, the boy desperately holding on meets the girl who had long lost herself. Oneshot. DreamEater!AU


**This is our (my, Darque's) entry into the GaaSaku Fanfest over on Tumblr, for the prompt 'Mythology'**

**This story is based on the myth of the Baku (獏), or the Dream Eater. They are Japanese mythological creatures that eat dreams and nightmares. I wanted to explore stories past that of the Gods and whatnot, so yeah. Some facts and stories about these creatures have been altered to fit this story. **

_**Dream Eater**_

Her lungs burned. The corridor appeared to last forever, which was strange because she could see the light coming from the far end of the path, which had to be the exit.

It had to be.

Rapid footsteps, much swifter and lighter than her own heavy ones, could be heard from behind. She didn't dare turn around, though, because every time she did, the creatures seemed to come closer and closer.

She could hear the animalistic growls of the creatures chasing her. She had thought they were dogs, but their long, sharp claws and jagged teeth had her thinking otherwise. What they were did not matter, though, because if they caught up, they would rip her apart, dogs or not.

The burst of fear allowed her to force her feet to move faster. Suddenly, the corridor opened up into a large room. On the other side was a door. One step ago, the end of the corridor had seemed ages away, but she did not question it as she ran towards it. She grasped the handle of the metal door. She gave it a sharp tug, and despair filled her when the door did not budge. There was no keyhole, no nothing, and she hoped that the thing was just jammed, and tried again.

The rapid steps following her suddenly skidded to a halt and she froze. Slowly, she looked back.

The dogs, the creatures, stood at the mouth of the corridor. There were four of them, all red-eyed and bared sharp teeth. She turned around and pulled at the hand one more time, but it did not open. The creatures appeared to be waiting for something, and the moment the tears she had been trying so hard to suppress began flowing, the first of the four creatures crouched, then lunged.

She screamed.

Then, in the next second, the sight of the creature before her was replaced by the back of a slender figure. All that registered in her mind was the scythe in the person's hand and the strands of pink hair. The newcomer, a girl from what she could see, deftly spun her weapon, and while she couldn't see what happened, the growl, then whimper, was abruptly cut short as the weapon was brought down.

There was a heavy thud of something roughly hitting the floor, and she watched the girl step daintily over the limp body of the creature. She could also see the rest of the creatures, and when the girl took another step they turned and ran back into the corridor.

She felt her knees give way and she sunk down onto the ground. The creature the girl had killed suddenly burst into smoke, and as she watched, the smoke swirled and shifted, transforming into a small stone. There was a burst of purple light, and the black stone floated in the air where the body had been.

The girl slowly reached for the glowing crystal. She grasped it, then raised it almost to inspect it, opened her mouth, and swallowed it whole.

She gasped.

The girl licked her fingers, like she had just eaten a piece of chocolate, then turned around.

Their eyes met. She stared at the bright green eyes visible from behind her bangs. The girl took a step forward, and she realized with a start that her saviour hadn't lowered her scythe yet.

The dread returned.

"You-You saved me," she stammered. "I-"

The girl appeared not to hear, or perhaps she was ignoring her. The scythe glinted threateningly in the dim light, and she could see her own reflection on the blade.

"No-no, wait, please-"

The girl tensed, the blade swung down, and she woke up.

* * *

The dread and disappointment, flavoured with a hint of relief, flooded through her. The new emotions washed away the fear, terror, and confusion the creature had brought, and she relished in the feeling for a moment.

Around her, the ground began to shake. From the corner of her eyes, she could see the bricks making up the room's walls crumbling. Behind it, there was an endless blackness.

"Sakura-chan!"

Sakura looked up towards the mouth of the corridor. A blond boy, Naruto, darted over towards her. "We got three," he said. He jerked his head towards a raven male who appeared behind him. "Sasuke says there are no more."

Sakura nodded.

"Did you get the dreamer?" Sasuke asked. "I'm assuming you did; the world is crumbling."

Sakura nodded. "I did," she added, just in case. "Let's get out of here."

* * *

"So," Naruto drawled. "What did she taste like?"

Sakura eyed the blond for a while. She paused. "Me?" She asked.

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Of course," he said. "You got the girl, remember?"

Sakura paused, frowning. "She tasted…relieved?" She said. "Then dreadful and disappointed?"

"Did you kill her after you killed the nightmare?" Sasuke asked.

Sakura nodded. "The thing tasted of fear and confusion," she told them.

"That sounds about right." Naruto balanced his scythe on his shoulders. He spun around. "How'd you kill the girl?"

Sakura closed her eyes, trying to picture the scene. "I walked up to her," she said. "Raised my scythe, then slashed her clean." She raised a hand and ran a finger from her left shoulder down to the right side of her hip.

"From behind?" Sasuke asked.

Sakura shook her head.

Naruto laughed. "That's probably where the dread came from," he said. "She was relieved you killed the nightmare, and then she despaired because she realized you weren't necessarily there to save her."

"You should have told her some sugar-coated lie, like 'It's okay now', then killed her when her back was turned," Sasuke added. "Sometimes, I put some extra effort into granting their wish. That way, maybe she'd have had a hint of gratitude, maybe even happiness?"

Sakura blinked. "Oh." She tried to wrap her mind around the things her companions were saying, but she decided she did not understand. "It's okay," she said instead. "I'm fine with what I get."

Naruto smiled sadly. "Trust me, Sakura-chan," he said. "Happiness is so much better."

Sakura eyed the blond for a while. Naruto would know, she reasoned. He was a rare case of Dream Eater that remembered bits of his human past; he probably remembered what it felt like to be happy.

She tried to remember herself, but her mind spread out into black nothingness no matter how far back she tried to reach. Dream Eaters experienced bursts of emotions dreams brought upon the dreamer by eating their cores. Younger Dream Eaters consumed dream after dream to try and retain human emotions, but she had been like this for so long she had lost track, and these days she wasn't even bothered to go out hunting. The emptiness within her was now a familiar feeling.

Still, she decided she was a little curious. "What does it taste like?" She asked.

Sasuke shrugged. "Hard to explain," he said. The raven was a long-time partner of hers. They had been together ever since she had accidentally fished him out of the river of the dead. He had stuck around, and Sakura appreciated that he was calm and collected, most of the time.

"Warm, comforting," Naruto said. The blond was the youngest of the three, and he had pulled himself out of the river just as they had been passing by. Retaining emotions from human life in a very unusual condition and he often told them he had seen the dead look in their eyes and had taken it upon himself to try and help them retain their humanity. Sakura had long forgotten the concept of time, but he had been around long enough that it felt like she knew him forever.

"What does that feel like?" She asked.

Naruto and Sasuke shared a look. "Next time, I'll feed you some," Naruto declared. "Once you try it, maybe you'll remember."

Sakura highly doubted it, but she did not say anything. Once maybe she had cared, but time had eroded away at most of the humanity within her.

* * *

It was a while later when Naruto declared he had found a good dream for them. "Sasuke's watching it for us," he told her as he tugged her along. "Didn't want the others to steal it."

Sakura allowed him to drag her out from their realm, and out into the human world. They floated over the sleeping city beneath them, and she sensed Sasuke's presence coming from a house located near a large park. He raised a hand in greeting as they floated down to his side.

"I had to chase off Sai," he complained. "Be grateful."

Sakura eyed him. "I'm grateful," she told him and frowned when he rolled his eyes.

"It doesn't mean anything coming from you," he said, though not unkindly.

Naruto cut in between them. "C'mon, Sakura-chan." He touched the red roof of the house and slipped right through. Sakura glanced at Sasuke, then followed their blond companion. She appeared inside the house, and Naruto waved her over to where he was standing over a curled-up form, asleep on a bed.

Sakura stared at him for a while. "He...has red hair," she said.

Sasuke appeared beside her. "You have pink hair," he pointed out drily.

"I'm dead," Sakura replied without missing a beat.

"Fair enough." Sasuke leaned over the sleeping boy's form. He took a deep breath. "Oh."

Naruto shoved him aside. "Well, Sakura-chan," he said. "Get going."

Sakura paused. "I am going alone?"

Naruto huffed. "Of course," he said. "We've got to slowly remind you of things, and we'll just be a distraction. Sasuke might steal the juicy parts."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Don't you mean you?"

The two males began to bicker, but Sakura barely heard them. She followed Sasuke's example and took a sniff but didn't recognize the smell. There was something about it, though…

She looked up to where Naruto and Sasuke had each other's collars in their grasp. She opened her mouth, then decided against catching their attention. "I'll be going now... " she trailed off awkwardly. Neither of them appeared to notice.

She floated over his sleeping body and lay down beside him. If she moved any closer, her shoulder would go through his. She closed her eyes, and the distant ringing of Naruto and Sasuke's voices faded away into nothing until all she could hear was the boy's slow breathing. She took in a deep breath, and breathed out, slowly matching his own. Soon, the darkness of her closed eyes turned into that of nothingness.

* * *

At first glance, the world of the boy's dream appeared to be a rather pleasant place. Simply put, it appeared to be an endless flower garden. There was no edge as far as she could see, and there wasn't a hint of anything hostile. Nightmares had the strongest pull on their kind, and Sakura wondered if Naruto had purposely found a dream like this. If so, that would be impressive.

She crouched down to inspect the patch of flowers by her feet. These were real flowers. She stood up again, and glanced around, wondering where the boy was. All dreams had a borderline, no matter how endless they seemed. The boy had to be here somewhere.

She took a careful step forward, and the flowers moved with her, almost as though they were beckoning her. She inspected the flowers for a while longer, checked the direction of the soft, comforting breeze, then began walking.

Soon, she saw a figure in the far distance. Distance within this world did not work like it did in the human world. If she wished hard enough, she could bring the border of the boy's dream world to her. Within her next step, the boy, who had appeared a mere dot in the distance, was only a few steps away from her. He was sitting down in what appeared to be a sandpit right in the middle of the sea of flowers. He did not appear to notice her presence.

Sakura slowly raised her hand, and her scythe materialized in her hand. Remembering what Naruto and Sasuke had told her a while ago, she slowly raised it as not to alert the boy.

The boy paused, and she froze as he slowly turned around. The boy looked young, but she had a sudden feeling that he was probably slightly older than she had first thought. He had bags around his eyes, and he clutched a teddy bear tightly in his small arms. His eyes widened as he took her in, but he did not appear too surprised. Sakura remained rooted to her spot and the boy slowly got to her feet.

"Did father send you?" He asked.

Sakura kept her scythe in the air, but she did not swing it down. "No," she told him honestly. "I have no idea what you are talking about."

The boy glanced down and shuffled his feet. "Oh," he said softly. "Then how did you get in here?"

"I let myself in."

Sakura felt a little lost. It had been a long, long time since anyone had talked to her. Most ran when they saw her weapon, and she had no intention of starting a conversation on her own. When her victim spoke to her first though…She slowly lowered her scythe.

"Did you sneak in?" The boy asked. "Father doesn't let me have visitors."

Sakura sceptically eyed the boy, then decided that, at his age, it was reasonable for him to not be able to distinguish between dream and reality. Perhaps he thought he was still awake?

"I…" Sakura bit her lip. "I…I snuck in."

The boy's face lit up. "I see."

Sakura glanced at her scythe. "This is a very nice garden," she said honestly.

The boy smiled. "I like the playground near my house," he told her. "There were a lot of flowers. I've been there once before. Then father found out and I haven't been allowed to go since, but I always remembered the sand pit."

Sakura eyed the sand at the boy's feet. So that was what it had been. She thought about what her companions had said again. She vanished her scythe. "I'm here to kill you," she said. "And I will." She hesitated, then held out her hand. "But, before I do that, would you like to go somewhere nice?"

The boy frowned. "I'm told not to follow strangers," he said.

Sakura pursed her lips. "I'm Sakura," she said. "Am I still a stranger?"

"I guess not." The boy reached out with his own, much smaller, hand. "I'm Gaara."

Sakura nodded. "Let's go, Gaara."

The moment their hands touched and Gaara accepted her, he had also unknowingly given her control of his world. She pictured their destination in her mind and gave a sharp, mental, pull. There was a rush, and a pull from deep within her stomach. A flash of light momentarily blinded her, and she heard Gaara give a shout of surprise. She tightened her grip reassuringly and felt him do the same, and suddenly, they were floating above Gaara's house.

The boy gasped.

This was a copy of the real world, created within Gaara's dream using Sakura's powers, so neither Naruto nor Sasuke were there. She navigated them down onto the street, and while Gaara appeared relieved at the contact with the earth, Sakura suddenly felt uncomfortable.

When was the last time she had placed her feet on the ground?

She gestured towards the entrance to the playground. "That one?" She asked.

Gaara shyly nodded, eyes still wide. He hesitantly tugged on his hand, and when Sakura let go he darted off. She followed at a much slower pace and by the time she had stepped through, the boy was already crouched in the sandpit. She recalled what she had been in Gaara's sandpit and conjured the same bucket and shovel in front of him. By now, Gaara's face looked like it would split from how wide his smile had grown. Sakura glanced around, spotting a bench, and had been about to head over towards it when Gaara darted over to her. "Do you want to play too?"

Sakura opened her mouth, ready to decline, when Naruto and Sasuke's advise flashed before her again. Nice words, grant wishes. She nodded. "Okay."

Gaara grinned and she felt her own lips twitch. As the boy ran off back to the pit ahead of her, she raised a hand to her mouth, wondering if something was wrong. She didn't consume as many dreams as she used to, but she was careful to go hunting just before she became too hungry. She hadn't been hurt in any recent fights either.

"Come on!"

Sakura looked up and saw Gaara waving her over. She shook her head, trying to dislodge the thoughts, and made her way over towards him. Gaara patted the space next to her, then handed her a bucket. "Let's make a sandcastle!"

Sakura eyed the bucket, then put it down and raised her hand. The sand began moving, and she breathed into her creation the experience of a countless number of castles and structures she had seen. Within seconds, there was a magnificent looking sand palace in front of them. Gaara gaped at it, eyes wide. "You-you're not-you're not supposed to-" He appeared unable to form complete sentences. He carefully reached out and ran his finger along the intricate designs etched into the roof. "You're supposed to build it by hand," he finished weakly.

Sakura blinked, then raised her hand again, to destroy the thing and start over, this time by hand, but Gaara hurriedly stopped her. "No! Don't destroy it!"

Sakura lowered her hand.

"It's so cool, so let's leave it like this." Gaara handed her the bucket again. "Let's build something else."

Sakura looked at the bucket, then at Gaara's eager eyes, and she nodded. "Okay."

* * *

A nudging feeling within her alerted Sakura of the coming morning. Gaara's world was still night, but she was sure that daytime was arriving in the real world. Gaara, who had tasked her with mixing water with the sand in her bucket, paused when he noticed that her hands had stopped moving. "Are you okay?"

Sakura looked at the boy. "I have to go soon," she told him. "And you have to go soon as well."

Gaara's face fell for a moment, but he squared his features with control she knew was impressive for a kid his age. "Okay," he said. "You're going to kill me now?"

Sakura hesitated. "It is not really killing," she admitted. She had no idea how to explain this.

Gaara nodded. "It's okay," he told her. "I had fun today."

The world around them returned to the field of flowers the moment Gaara appeared to comprehend that their time together was over.

Sakura stiffened when her scythe appeared before her because she hadn't summoned it. Gaara smiled, and she realized with a start that this boy much more control of his own dream world than she had thought. She reached out and grasped it.

Gaara watched her patiently as she slowly raised it.

"Are you sure?" She asked, remembering the words of her companions once again. "Death ends the dream. If you are happy-"

"It's okay," Gaara cut her off. "I read in a book that happiness is best when it's shared with others."

Sakura did not know how being killed was happiness, and she also did not know how it could be shared, but she did not question it.

"Will you come to see me again?" He asked.

Sakura hesitated. Kind words, grant wishes. "Okay," she said.

She didn't understand Gaara's smile as she brought down her scythe. Nor did she understand the lingering scent of flowers and the taste of the dream that brought tears to her eyes.

* * *

She did not come back. Maybe she hadn't meant her words. Maybe it was his ever-growing inability to sleep. He probably hadn't had a good night's sleep in ages.

Gaara lay awake in his bed. It had been two years since his father had been arrested for child abuse, among other things. It had been fortunate his eldest sister, Temari, was old enough to take custody over him and Kankuro, and they learned soon after that their mother had left them enough savings for them to survive on until they could support themselves. His father had been unable to access them, and that was the only reason the money had been left untouched even while the man had spent everything, he could get his hands on, on alcohol.

He sighed and rolled over. Two years, and still the nightmares from back them haunted him. He was now seventeen, a high school student, and people often told him that things could only get better. He didn't know how they knew.

Sometimes, when he bolted up in his bed after multiple futile efforts at falling asleep was rewarded by haunting nightmares of his father's raining fists and days of being locked up in the cupboard, he would remember the girl, Sakura, the girl who had appeared one day in his sleep. He had been six, young and scared and desperate for a friend. Now that he looked back, she wasn't like the friends he saw at school. She had been curt with her words despite the hesitation in them, had been detached even though she had entertained him in the sandpit.

For years, he had thought her to be another figment of his dream, something he had conjured up to ease his loneliness once his field of flowers had eased his pain.

Then, just the other day, Temari had mentioned in passing how a pink haired girl had suddenly appeared in her dreams to chop up a humanoid monster made up of past assignment papers and he had tried to shake it off as a coincidence, because what else could it be?

His watch beeped, alerting him of the new hour. He checked the clock and noted that it was midnight. He sighed, because he had been lying down for the past hour and a half, and sleep was yet to come. His insomnia had gotten better, much better, over the years but it was still difficult for him to sleep.

He closed his eyes again and willed the darkness to take him.

* * *

Gaara didn't even realize when he had fallen asleep, until he had, and his father was grabbing him by the front of his shirt. Fear surged through him and he momentarily forgot that this man was currently in prison. He grasped at the fingers curled into his shirt, confused and scared out of his mind.

In one second, he had been staring at a broad chest, and in the next, there was the tip of something very, very sharp merely a few centimetres from his face. The grip on his shirt slacked, then vanished altogether when his father exploded, leaving him to fall to the ground.

"Are you okay?"

Gaara gasped and stumbled backward, eyes still blurry from tears. He clutched at his throat and landed heavily on his backside.

"Are you okay?"

Gaara looked up slowly, and he froze.

He knew that pink hair.

Before him stood Sakura, and she was just as he remembered her. Her eyes were as blank as he remembered, and he recognized the scythe that had torn him in half all those years ago.

"Sakura?"

The girl blinked. "Hello," she said.

Gaara gaped like a fish, mind whirling. "You-you're Sakura."

"And you're Gaara," Sakura replied. Her scythe vanished. "You..." She eyed him. "You've grown."

Gaara blinked. "It's been a while," he finally got out.

"Has it?" Sakura held out a hand, and while it was a somewhat mechanic movement, he accepted it without much thought. Suddenly, there was a strong pull in his gut, and his vision exploded with light. He instinctively closed his eyes, and he opened them again when something soft briefly tickled his cheek.

Flowers.

Gaara's eyes widened and he looked around.

It was the flower field, the one he had escaped to often in his dreams. He hadn't been here often since his father had first started beating him at age eight. Before that, it had mostly been no food and being locked up in cupboards, but once the violence had started, it hadn't stopped. Since then, his sanctuary had vanished, and he had no longer been able to sleep.

It had been here when he had played in the sandpit without a care in the world. It had been here when he...he looked at Sakura. When he had made his first friend. "You didn't come back," he said, and even as the words left his mouth, he was reminded of a child throwing a tantrum.

"I couldn't," Sakura replied easily. She looked around the flower field, but he still could not read her expression. He always remembered to be expressionless, but had she always been this…empty? "I did," she added after a second. "I tried to come back."

"I-" Gaara trailed off. This was a little ridiculous. He was talking to a pink haired girl who had split him in half in his dream using a scythe when he was a kid, a girl that had promised him she would come back, only to not because he had been the one to lose the flower field they had once met in. "I lost-I couldn't sleep."

Sakura blinked. "I know," she said.

"Oh."

There was a silence Gaara found awkward, but he had a feeling Sakura probably found nothing wrong with it. "Well, it's back?" He said.

Sakura nodded. "It is." She raised the crystal that had once been his father in nightmare form. "Give me a moment."

Gaara watched, and his eyes widened when the pinkette raised the crystal to the light, then bit into it like it was an apple. The solid looking crystal shattered like candy glass under her teeth, and she swallowed it like it was nothing. "Fear," she said. "Anger, confusion?"

Gaara blinked. "What?"

Sakura pointed at him. "That's what you felt when you saw this." She raised her hand, showing him the last specs of the crystal. She licked them clean. "Nightmares, when killed, reveal how they made the dreamer feel."

"And Dream Eaters feed on the dreams of the dreamers?"

Sakura appeared surprised, and Gaara felt a rush of pride. "Yes," she said slowly.

"I read books," he told her. "I remembered you from all those years ago. Honestly, I thought it was stupid, that I was holding on to things from so long ago, but I read up on it."

"We appear in books?" Sakura looked genuinely intrigued, and Gaara had to hold back a laugh at the childish look of curiosity in the girl's eyes.

"Yes. There are many different versions, actually, but I have my favourite."

Sakura tilted her head. "And that is?"

Gaara thought of how the pinkette appeared to him when he was a kid, and looked her over, grasping at how she appeared to him now. She simply looked lost. "Dream Eaters eat dreams to become human."

Sakura furrowed her eyebrows. "We eat dreams as fuel," she said, and Gaara winced at the brutal destroying of his thoughts, but Sakura was not done. "But…but I have heard one of my companions say something similar once. We feel what you feel when we eat the dream; some Dream Eaters, especially the younger ones who remember their times of being human, actively hunt dreams to remember."

"You were once human?" Gaara asked. He hadn't read anything about that. Then again, the concept of Dream Eaters were myths and stories, just like that of the Greek Gods and the beings of Asgard.

Sakura nodded. "Apparently. Though I do not remember anything from my time as one. It has been a…it has been a long time."

How long did it have to be for one to forget? Gaara watched Sakura's expression as she stared blankly into nothing for a while. "Do you want to remember?"

Sakura looked up. "I-I do not know. Fear and anger do not taste the best, but those have the strongest pull on us."

"If you kill me now, you'll taste happy." The words had left his mouth before he could even comprehend them, and he had to restrain himself from slapping a hand over his mouth.

Sakura frowned. "I was under the impression that people did not like being killed."

Gaara felt his lips curling in a smile. "Well, maybe not in real life," he said. "But I'm dreaming right now, right? I'll just wake up, I won't lose anything." He pictured Sakura's scythe, and when it appeared seconds later, a sudden weight in his hand, he knew he remembered it correctly. He passed it to Sakura, who was staring at him with a look recognized.

Their last meeting had been years ago, how did he remember all these things?

"You...have a surprising amount of control over this world," Sakura finally said. "People usually do not even know when they are dreaming." She twirled her scythe and Gaara thought of how heavy the weapon had been. Did weight register differently for Dream Eaters?

"My father was abusive," he said slowly. "Temari, my older sister, tells me that she remembers times he was actually a nice father, but that was before my mother died." He swallowed. "Before I was born."

Sakura did not react, and for some reason Gaara was glad. He had received enough pity and reassurance from people, people who hadn't batted an eye about the whole situation until authorities had arrested the man that was supposed to be their father. Then again, perhaps she did not understand what he was not saying?

"My father drank a lot, and by the time night came he'd be knocked out. At night, my siblings and I had a moment of peace. I don't know how to explain it, but every moment when our father wasn't hitting us, or locking us up, it was like a dream. When he wasn't there, I was free. I could do anything."

Perhaps it wasn't that much of a surprise if he remembered Sakura, he clearly remembered a lot of things from his childhood.

When he was seven, his father wrapped his large hands around his throat. Until then, most of the beatings had been unstable hits from a fist that hadn't even been able to curl into a proper fist due to the sheer amount of alcohol permanently coursing through the man's veins. He remembered Kankuro and Temari screaming, his vision blurring, and his father's burning eyes just barely visible through his own tears. The darkness had been a nice contrast.

When he came to, his siblings were leaning over him. Kankuro had a nasty scratch on his forehead and Temari's hair was messed up as though someone had roughly grabbed her by her locks. Their father was no longer there.

The next day, he wore a scarf to school. It had been winter, and he didn't have any friends, so no one questioned it. Still, something had changed.

The silence had been nice. He had welcomed it. Darkness did not hurt, and while it was unlike the warmth he burrowed himself into at night to try and rest, it had been comforting.

He hadn't wanted to leave.

Since then, the field of flowers had vanished. The control he had thought he had over his escape was gone, and he saw nothing but darkness when he slept. It became too suffocating, too smothering, _too welcoming,_ and he soon stopped trying.

He was scared he would never be able to leave.

Sleepless nights followed. As they grew older, his siblings began to stand up to their father. The man, whose body was destroyed after years of putting it through alcohol abuse, was no match for a young teenager, especially not drunk. Their father began to stay away, with only occasional shouting when they returned from school, or inaccurately thrown bottles in their general direction. The later few years before their father's arrest was the three of them living together, with their drunk father just there in the background.

Then one day, suddenly, police officers were knocking on their doors and hauling their father away on charges Gaara had never heard of before. They had already been planning to leave once Temari's new job stabilized, and they didn't have much problem with starting out by themselves. The brief investigation that had come with the arrest revealed the savings their mother had left for them, and Temari had been able to enter university, something she had been forced to drop the first time around.

"Gaara?"

Gaara jumped at his name and realized that Sakura was still patiently watching him. "Sorry-" what had he been talking about?

"Perhaps your need to have control over something in your life allows you to be aware of your own dreams."

It appeared Sakura thought his silence was due to confusion, and he decided not to correct her. "Maybe."

Sakura looked up, and he recognized that expression as well. "Morning?" He asked.

Sakura nodded. "Are you sure?"

Gaara nodded in return. "I'm very happy I got to see you again," he told her. "And remember? Happiness is best shared. I'll give you some of this; I'm happy enough." He hesitated. "Will you come back?" He asked.

Sakura stared at him. "Can I?" She asked.

Gaara nodded. "I can...I can sleep now."

"Okay. I will."

For the second time in his life, he was sliced open with a scythe.

* * *

Sasuke looked up when he sensed Sakura enter their dimension. He glanced over at Naruto, only to see that the blond had already made his way over to the pinkette.

"Where have you been, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked. "You've been gone for like, days!"

"I was visiting someone."

Sasuke floated over as well. He noted how Sakura's own feet were planted firmly on the ground. "The redhead?" He asked.

Sakura nodded.

"How was the kid?"

Naruto slowly turned over, so that he was upside down and in Sakura's face. He grinned.

"He's no longer a kid," she told them. "He's grown."

"It's been years," Sasuke said. "Humans grow over time."

"Eleven," Naruto chirped helpfully. "Honestly though, he's seventeen right now, right? I'm a little surprised he remembers you."

"Don't know how long that it," Sasuke said, shrugging. "Is it a long time?"

Naruto nodded dramatically. "It is," he said. "Imagine eleven years stuck with you, Bastard. Wait, I don't have to, because we've been together for lifetimes!" He turned towards Sakura. "Not you, Sakura-chan!" He exclaimed. "I love being with you, 'ttebayo!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes, then turned towards her as well. "Are you done for a while?" He asked. "There a dream I'm keeping an eye on, and I-"

"I'll be heading out again tomorrow," Sakura interrupted him.

Sasuke froze. He glanced over at Naruto, who chose that exact moment to turn towards him as well. "Again?" He asked carefully.

Sakura nodded. "I agreed to visit Gaara again."

"Gaara-the boy?"

Sakura nodded. "Yes."

"Is he actually aware? That he's dreaming?"

"He is. He told me so. He has good control over his own dream."

Sasuke hummed, and another thought invaded his mind. "And how do you end the dream?"

Dream Eaters entered someone's dream to consume it. They were outsiders, and if their target had incredible control over their minds or was extremely self-aware, there was a chance they could not leave the mind through the normal way. When it came to that, they had no choice but to kill the dreamer in their own mind to force them to wake up. For someone so aware like Gaara, it wouldn't be difficult to trap Sakura in his mind. He had never heard of a Dream Eater dying in a dream, but what would happen then?

"I kill him," came the swift reply.

Naruto laughed nervously. "I hope you did it when he wasn't looking," he said uneasily. "I don't think he likes dying."

"He was looking." Sakura summoned her scythe and swung it around. "He offers himself to me."

Sasuke glanced over at Naruto again. "I...see."

Sakura nodded. "I'm going to go rest," she said. "I've consumed more dreams than I have in a while."

Sasuke nodded in understanding, and Naruto waved as Sakura curled up around her scythe mid-air. She vanished in a puff of smoke.

The moment she was gone, Naruto turned to him and grabbed him by the front of his collar. "Uhhh, what? Did you hear her? She's been going to see him every day."

Sasuke smacked his hand away and begrudgingly straightened his clothes. "I did," he replied. "Do you think it's okay?" Naruto was the one with the human experience, he would know, right?

"He doesn't sound like a bad guy, but I want to make sure."

"She's seeing him tonight?"

"She said so." Naruto did a backflip mid-air. "Why?"

Sasuke had a feeling the blond knew what he was hinting at, but he decided to entertain him anyways. "We should follow her and see this guy for ourselves."

"That's called stalking, 'ttebayo," Naruto muttered but did not reject the idea. "Tonight?"

"Tonight."

* * *

Sakura did not hesitate at all as she made her way down onto the human plane. She made a beeline over to one of the houses, and by the time Naruto and Sasuke had followed her in, she was already deep in Gaara's mind.

Naruto glanced over at Sasuke, nodded, then lay down beside them and matched their breathing to his

In an instant, he was in the boy's dream. The flower field that spread out before him surprised him because the boy hadn't appeared to be the flowery type. Sasuke appeared beside him seconds later, and the two of them paused for a moment before Sasuke pointed in a direction "That way."

Naruto nodded. The raven warped the space around them to conceal their presence, and the two of them began making their way through the flower field.

"This is surprisingly big and well made," he noted.

Sasuke nodded. "Sakura did say he had good control over it."

Something caught his eye, and Naruto squinted through the petals. There was a bench, and he could see Sakura's pink hair and Gaara's red hair sitting next to each other.

"There is nowhere to hide here," he muttered. "You sure this will hold?"

"No idea," Sasuke admitted. "If Gaara really is good as Sakura says he is, he'd see right through it in an instant."

The two of them stopped a distance away. "What now?" Naruto asked.

Suddenly, the redhead stood up. He said something to Sakura, then began walking over towards them.

"Do you think he sees us?" He asked.

Sasuke shrugged, and the raven summoned his scythe. "Just in case," he murmured in reply.

Gaara stopped just before them, and Naruto just knew he knew. He raised his hand, and something appeared. He held it up towards them.

"I've seen that before, in a dream," Naruto said warily. "It's called-it's called a-"

"A gun," came the piercing explanation. "I know you're there, come out."

The area they had distorted or hide in was ripped open, and Naruto felt it as their concealment faded. "Control over his own dream all right." He put his hands on his hips. "I know Sakura-chan said so, but I didn't expect it to be this good."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, staring at the thing, the gun, Gaara was pointing at them.

"You know Sakura?" The redhead asked. He did not lower the gun.

Naruto nodded, grinning. "We do," he said. "We're her friends. In fact, we followed her here."

Gaara continued to look wary. "Why?"

"Sakura doesn't go out hunting very often," Sasuke cut in. "We were wondering what she was doing."

Something flashed in Gaara's eyes. He lowered the gun. "I see." He glanced over his shoulder, where Sakura hadn't moved since he had stepped away. "She's been coming to see me," he said. "She said she wasn't busy, so-"

"Not busy," Naruto quickly agreed. "We were surprised, is all. Just until recently, she didn't even go out to hunt until she had to."

"Oh."

Naruto tried to catch Sasuke's eye, but the raven continued to glare suspiciously at Gaara. He sighed, grabbed his friend by the arm, and grinned apologetically at the redhead. "Well, sorry about that," he said. "I think she's in good hands, so we'll be leaving now."

Sasuke opened his mouth, ready to protest, but Naruto kicked them out of the dream before he could.

* * *

Gaara's days brightened. After their father had left their lives things could not have gotten better, but it had. Sakura visited him often, and the fear for sleeping and the nightmares he had was replaced by elation as he slipped under his sheets every night.

Sakura began to smile. It was rare and small, not the large grins the blond, Naruto, often had on his face, nor was it the teasing smiles his siblings greeted him with whenever he saw them, but it was a small, genuine thing that made his heart flutter in ways he had never felt before.

When he asked her about it, she took his hand in hers. "Your taste," she had said. "Your happiness makes me smile and looking at you makes me remember the previous happiness you shared with me."

He was sure his dream that night tasted especially delicious.

Soon, he graduated from high school and entered university. As he did, though, he slowly became aware that while he grew bigger and taller, Sakura remained the dainty looking thing she had always been. Actually, he had probably known, but as a child, he hadn't understood the significance, and as a teenager, he had pretended not to notice.

But now, at an age where all his peers were finding partners and his sister was engaged, it felt all the more real.

He rejected a girl who confessed to him and was unable to explain why he had lest he was sent to a mental asylum. He told Sakura about it later that night and had to force himself not to flinch away when Sakura's eyes saddened, because she had gotten better with her emotions over the years and he just knew she knew why he had done what he had.

She told him that death was the end of the body, but not the mind, and that she could wait for him to join her one day. He told her he would gladly spend his human life with him, then find her once he died and spend the rest of time with her.

He did not understand why she laughed and told him she would be the one to find him. He did not care who did the finding, really.

He would dream of a future with Sakura, and force himself awake out of embarrassment when she smiled lightly because while to people his thoughts were the most secure place for him to leave something, Sakura was a being who lived there, and he could not hide anything from her. Soon he stopped trying to conceal it, and she sometimes added images to his fantasies.

Temari and her husband, Nara Shikamaru, had a child. When his sister had first announced that someone had proposed to her, Sakura had taken him on a trip to the man's dreams. Sakura was curious, and Gaara had to know if he was good enough for the woman who had practically raised him since before she had even become a teenager. They had left satisfied, and he would later share the funny story of how confused Shikamaru had been when Gaara had treated him with a welcoming smile and friendly small talk after he initially greeted him curtly and with caution on their first introduction.

Soon, his body became heavy, but while Kankuro complained about the increasing number of things he could not do, Gaara remained satisfied, because in the world of dreams he was still eighteen and he could lift the sky. Sakura would sit and listen to his stories of the day, and she, in turn, would share what she had been up to. She ate exclusively off of him, but she often went with Naruto and Sasuke to secure dreams that they wanted to enjoy in peace. The three of them were the only Dream Eaters Gaara had ever met, but 'Sai', 'Kakashi' and 'Yamato' often appeared in Sakura's tales, and she often complained about how, sometimes, other Dream Eaters would try and steal their catches.

When his body finally decided it could not keep up with his mind, he felt like he had all the time in the world as he slept through his days. Shikadai and his wife had generously taken him under their care despite his insistence that he was fine, that he had the money to support the rest of his time in a hospital, and they visited him often. He felt bad for almost never being awake, but when Sakura greeted him with a smile and they went flying over the river during the lantern festival, or popped up to the top of some tall mountain to watch the first sunrise of the year, all other thoughts vanished.

Then, one day, when Sakura appeared before him with a wider than normal smile on her face, he knew his time had come.

"You shouldn't be smiling about my death," he said, though he was sure he was wearing was a smile of his own, and that it was possibly bigger than hers.

Sakura pursed her lips in a bad attempt to stop herself. "Sorry."

Gaara laughed and held out his hand. Sakura took it without hesitation, and he pulled her in for a hug. "Soon," he said.

"Soon," Sakura agreed.

Gaara pulled back and looked down at her. "So, what do I expect?" He asked.

Sakura leaned her head on his chest. "Rare cases like Naruto remember their past, but when I say rare, I really do mean rare. You probably won't."

Gaara winced, but Sakura did not appear deterred. "However, here, we are our minds, and we are our souls. Even if you do not remember memories, you will remember the emotions."

"So I'll know?" He asked. "How long does it take for me to be...reborn, anyway?"

"Not all humans become Dream Eaters," Sakura explained. "There's a river, and those who are fished out, like I accidentally did with Sasuke, or those who somehow pull themselves out, like Naruto, become like this. I do not know how long it will take, nor do I know how to explain it to you in ways you will understand, but for you, it will be an instance, and to me, well, the human concept of time is still lost to me. The wait will be worth it, after all."

Gaara laughed and pulled her in tighter. He could feel himself getting lighter. "I think it's time."

Sakura nodded. "It is," she said. "I will see you soon?"

Gaara nodded, and in the last second, he pulled her in once more and pressed his lips to hers. Sakura froze and Gaara wanted to laugh because even after all these years he had never once kissed her.

He would make up for it, he vowed, once he returned to her side.

"I'll see you," he replied. "I promise."

Sakura nodded, and when she slowly let go, everything faded.

* * *

When he opened his eyes, the world was black. His limbs were heavy, and when he tried to move them, they didn't respond. He glanced around, trying to see if he could recognize where he was.

Who was he, anyway?

Suddenly, something breached the endless darkness. A hand grabbed his arm, and he felt himself being yanked in a direction. Only when he broke the surface of the river did he realize that he was in a large body of water, and he gasped for breath, the air not quite filling his lungs, as whomever it was holding onto him put him down on firm land. The river water had appeared pitch black when he had been under, but when he looked over the edge of the land, he clearly saw his reflection. Red hair, green eyes.

He looked up, and the first thing he noticed was pink hair. The word that left his lips was foreign, but felt so, so right.

"Sakura?"

The girl perked and stared at him as though she was looking for something. He suddenly felt self-conscious, and he looked away.

"I don't think he remembers," someone said, and he looked up to see a blond hovering above them.

"Not surprised," said another voice. The raven who revealed himself did not have the friendliest look on his face. "Not everyone's like you, thank the gods."

The blond looked offended, but then he turned towards him and the girl. "Let's give them time?"

The raven sighed and rolled his eyes. "Sure."

The two of them vanished, leaving him with the pink haired girl.

"Who am I?" He asked, then bit his lip. "I feel like I know you." He took a deep breath, and her scent assaulted his senses. He knew her. He didn't know how he knew her, but something deep within him, still sleeping and wanting to wake up, knew so.

The girl stared him in the eyes, and something tugged at his heart. "You're Gaara," she told him. "And you do know me. A long time ago, we promised ourselves to each other."

"We did?" He, Gaara, frowned. "I don't remember that. Why don't I remember? Who are you?"

"Don't worry, Gaara, we have time."

A hand was held out to him, and Gaara felt that bubbling feeling in his chest all over again. Still, he was a little hesitant. "I'm told not to follow strangers." The words had left his mouth even before he had registered them, but before he could even question who exactly had told him that, a smile wider than before bloomed on the girl's face.

"I'm Sakura," she said. "Am I still a stranger?"

"I-I guess not." He accepted her hand and allowed Sakura to pull him. His body felt lighter and Sakura steadied him when he stumbled.

"Let's go, Gaara," she said softly, and his world exploded in flowers.

* * *

_**Darque: Like I mentioned at the top, this is a oneshot entry for the GaaSaku Fest! I have an art submission for the prompt 'Dark!Gaara/Dark!Sakura' under Darquedeath4444, so do check it out!**_

**Raven: There are also other Gaara x Sakura content for the Fest, so check it out on Tumblr~**

_**Darque: I had a lot of fun working on this one. Maybe I'll do more fully AU stories.**_

**Raven: Also, catch us on discord ****/bHw6Ddh !**

**Read and Review~**


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